Visual Literacy Library Session

I now work part-time for a boys catholic school and spend time in both the Early Years (EY) and Middle Years (MY) libraries. I have loved contributing to the collection management by suggesting new titles, weeding out old ones and trying to promote and find resources the students and teachers need.

I also get to take some library sessions, and recently I’ve been talking to students about visual literacy. This is when messages, ideas and stories are communicated using images or videos, rather than language. It’s developing skills to interpret and make sense of images, and to find meaning in art.

Library Session

To warm the students up to the topic and get them attention I began by showing them images of company logos that have hidden images within them. We discussed what the company might be trying to communicate by including that image. This really got the boys engaged. We then talked about questions that we can ask ourselves when trying to decipher an image. We want to think about the intended audience, the purpose, and what the creator’s intention might have been.

Next I showed them this image from one of my favourite books, After the Fall, by Dan Santat.

The back story is that Humpty has already fallen off the wall and been put back together, but not everything is as it once was. We discussed how the author/illustrator is showing us what has changed in Humpty’s life and what he is missing out on. The students noticed the use of bright colours to show how enticing the boxes out of reach were, and how, even though a ladder was available, Humpty couldn’t bring himself to use it.

Next the students selected their own picture book (some chose from a pre-selected collection, others went and chose their own) to read and analyse independently or as pairs. I asked them to answer just one question on a worksheet, and then we shared some of our findings together. It was noted how just the placement of an pupil or the shape of a mouth could impact the story and convey emotion. I was able to point out to the students that a lot of humour can be created when the audience learns something from the images that the characters are not aware of. We also saw that sometimes what happens between the pages is where the real story occurs.

Kids really love becoming book sleuths as they spy connections and clues in illustrations. The whole session was super fun and hopefully helps them see that no one is ever to old to enjoy a high-quality picture book.

Picture books used to demonstrate visual literacy:

• After the Fall, by Dan Santat
• I Want My Hat Back, by Jon Klassen
• A Pair of Pears and an Orange, by Anna McGregor
• This is Not My Hat, by Jon Klassen
• Window, by Jeannie Baker
• Anamalia, by Graeme Base
• The Girl and the Bicycle, by Mark Pett
• Rodney Loses It, by Michael Gerard Bauer and Christina Krebs